毎年４月と５月は、外に出るのによい季節とはいえ、私がいつも自宅で一生懸命染め作業をしているので、夫も息子もどこへも行ずに、家周辺で過ごしています。そういえば、春だけでなく、秋の行楽シーズンにも遠出したことがありませんねぇ。
裏山の自然公園へお弁当を持って行きたい、と息子が常々言っていたので、この日曜日は思いつきで行ってきました。
自然公園を抜け、ヤブをかき分けて棚田まで進みます。当初の目的はざりがに採りだったのですが、素手で息子に捕まるようなマヌケなざりがにもいません。それでも小さなフナを４匹捕まえて、なんとか納得。
公園に戻ると、あちこちにニョキニョキ生えているきのこがとても気になりました（カメラを後でみたら、きのこの写真ばかりでした）。かんかん照りでも、森のなかはひんやりとして快適です。
この公園にくるのも本当に久しぶり。愛犬達が生きていた頃は、毎日（引っぱられながら）散歩に来たものです。
息子が小さい頃も、毎日のように通っていました。あの頃は、息子が早く大きくなってくれないかと、日々思っていたものです（仕事ができなくて、つまらなく思っていた頃でした）。
過ぎてしまえば、あっという間ですね。これから何年後かに、このざりがに採り（フナ採りだけど）の日のことも思い出すのでしょうか。
On Sunday, my son, husband, and I walked to a nearby park and to some surrounding rice fields and apple orchards in search of crayfish, which my eight-year-old wanted to catch.
The vast park is divided into four main parts according to function. There is a “mallet golf” course used mostly by local seniors, and a so-called dinosaur park complete with life-sized models of many species of dinosaurs based upon people’s then-understanding of same some 30 years ago and painted according to a color scheme which never concerned itself with accuracy, and probably had more to do with which color paints were on sale at the time of decoration. Most of the dinosaurs represented in this area lived during the Triassic and Jurassic periods. Above that, there are a few more models of mammal-like reptiles older still dating from the late-Permian. Above that as one moves up the mountain, there is a children’s recreation area with a couple dozen well-maintained stations, as well as gardens for herbs, flowers, and a wisteria walkway.
Long story, short…while we saw a few crayfish around a paddy, we were unable to catch any, but will be better prepared next time. We also saw several 15-cm long tadpoles in a pond probably those of the “ushi-gaeru” (bull frog), one of which it would be fun to bring back home.
Before walking home, we enjoyed the lunch we had packed earlier. We feel lucky to live so near such a wonderful, natural and multi-use public open space and the countryside around it.
